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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844444">It's from a camping trip gone wrong!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingMuch_Really/pseuds/NothingMuch_Really'>NothingMuch_Really</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's from a camping trip gone wrong! [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!, 約束のネバーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland (Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, LetEmmaSwear2021, No Romance, Norman is just a little bitch, Spoilers, Texting, The Promise (The Promised Neverland), The Promised Neverland Manga Spoilers, The Promised Neverland Spoilers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, between emma ray and norman, he'd be so extra and over the top fight me, seriously, she deserves it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:27:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,028</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27844444</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingMuch_Really/pseuds/NothingMuch_Really</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In another universe, Emma ended up in wastelands alone with no memories. That is not this universe. in this universe, it's Emma's first day at Karasuno High School! </p><p>Aka Emma is fostered by the Hinata's and why does everyone think it's so weird to only have one ear???</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emma &amp; Everyone (The Promised Neverland), Emma &amp; Norman &amp; Ray (The Promised Neverland), Emma &amp; Norman (The Promised Neverland), Emma &amp; Ray (The Promised Neverland)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>It's from a camping trip gone wrong! [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>243</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>haikyuu fics</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The one that starts it</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Please read this first!!!!!<br/>In this fic, there was no actual price, and Emma, Norman, and Ray were placed in foster homes in Japan. All of the orphans live in Japan because japanese is the closest to their language. Emma is living with Hinata, Ray with Kuroo, and Norman is at a random family's house but he goes to Aoba Johsai. Time line wise, I'm just putting Emma and co at 15, and this takes place in the Haikyuu timline right before summer training camp. This takes place in the 2010s with Haikyuu, not in 2045.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As per the rules of the universe, Emma was late for her first day at school. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just my luck</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought as she ran with her foster brother, Shouyou. He had bright orange hair just like her, and with their similar height and bright expressions, one might mistake them for siblings or cousins. Emma adjusted the neck of her uniform. She wasn’t super self conscious about her tattoo or anything, it’s just that Mrs. Hinata said it would be easier on her to cover it up. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wonder what she meant by that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Emma thought as they rounded the last corner. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here! Okay, so I have practice, so I’ll just drop you off at the office and you can come stop by the gym afterwards. It’s right over there!” He enthusiastically pointed over towards a large building. “The office should be just inside that building over there, on the left.” Emma gave a nod and started walking over to the office. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hinata Emma, Hinata Emma, Hinata Emma</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The name bounced around her head as she opened the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata Emma!” She accidentally yelled as she walked in. The lady at the front desk jumped, making Emma startle as she realized what had happened. “Sorry! I’m Hinata Emma, just transferred here?” The woman straightened her glasses and cleared her throat before talking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine sweetheart, I have your papers right here. You will be in class 1-A going off of your placement test, so that’ll be on the second floor. I’m sure your brother can show you where everything is, so here’s your locker combination and class sheet. Classes start at 8:30 on the dot, and I recommend getting to your classroom at 8:25 at the latest.” The woman handed her a stack of papers. “These are some forms I’ll need your parents to fill out, just standard protocol. Please try and get those back to me as soon as you can.” Emma accepted the papers with a grin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t wait! Thank you!” The orange haired girl skipped over towards the gym, grateful that she didn’t have to really do anything as she shoved the stack of papers into her bag. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wonder how many people Shouyou is practicing with</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Emma thought as she was getting closer to the doors. She carefully opened one and poked her head in. It looked as though they were still warming up, with about twelve people in the same type of clothes as Shouyou. No one seemed to notice her at first, but then a guy with a blond streak in his hair made eye contact with her, then nudged the bald guy standing next to him, presumably talking about her. Feeling uncomfortable, Emma decided to just go for it and walked confidently into the building. Hearing the door slam, a few people turned over to see who had entered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Emma! That was fast,” Shouyou shot up from the lunges he was doing to greet her. “You can sit on that bench over there, we’re doing a practice game today so hopefully it won’t be too boring for you! Oh, and that’s Shizumi,” he said, gesturing to a pretty girl with dark hair who was holding a clipboard. “She’s our team manager.” Shizumi nodded in acknowledgement. “I’m sure she can explain the rules and stuff to you if you ask.” It looked like Shouyou was about to say more, but got interrupted by his teammates. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, who’re you?!?” The guy with dyed hair was now jumping around all excited. “Are you Hinata-san’s sister? That’s the first year ribbon! Hinata, why didn’t you tell me you had a twin?!?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have a twin.” Dyed hair dude and bald guy donned similar looks of confusion while Shouyou explained. “She’s my foster sibling, and she just moved here.” Emma was grateful for her foster brother saying something, but she’d rather introduce herself, thank you very much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Hinata Emma, nice to meet you!” She said, waving. “I’ll be in class 1-A, by the way.” She made sure everyone heard and went to sit down with Shizumi. “So, what do you do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m the team’s manager, which essentially means I put the child leashes on Tanaka and Nishinoya,” she nodded towards the baldy and dyed hair guy, “and take notes on everything the coach says.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like fun!” Emma didn’t think it sounded like fun, but she was going to be polite.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, plus you get to sit really close to the court during games. So, what about you? Any interests, hobbies?” Emma knew that Shizumi had no way of knowing what she had been through, but she just lobbed the best smile she could and answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like reading and running, I also really like going to gun ranges,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>And shooting those who have harmed your family</span>
  </em>
  <span>, her mind provided. The dark haired girl looked surprised at that last bit, but took it in stride.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Quite the variety of interests.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat in silence for a minute, or at least as silent as a volleyball court can be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, if you’re interested, we’ve been looking for an assistant manager. It’s not a lot of work, and you could hang out with Hinata more that way too.” Shizumi straightened her glasses. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma thought for a second. “I don’t really have anything else to do, how about I check out what the other clubs are and get back to you on that?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>… And now they were back to silence. They sat quietly for the rest of practice, not really having anything to talk about. Emma knew that the older girl had questions, like where she had come from and why she was missing an ear, but didn’t say anything. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>When practice ended, Shouyou, Emma, a really tall boy with blond hair and glasses named Tsukkishima (who was also in class 1-A), and another boy with olive hair whose name was Yamaguchi walked to the first year classrooms. “It’s kinda unlucky, you know, having to come to school right before midterms,” Yamaguchi said. He was a lot more soft spoken than Tsukkishima and Shouyou. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I don’t really care. I haven’t been in school for a while anyways, so it’ll be good to do some testing to see where I’m at.” Seeing the confused looks two of the boys sent her way, she explained further. “I’ve been in between homes lately,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>hunting demons and trying to save humanity</span>
  </em>
  <span>, “so It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to seriously study.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s really smart though!” Shouyou jumped up and down to accentuate his point. “She got a perfect score on the entrance test!” The two orange haired teens knew that wasn’t 100% true, Emma had been exempt from the history portion of the exam, so it wasn’t a full perfect score.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tsukkishima looked surprised at that. He had only gotten a 90% on his test, and he had been at cram school every day of middle school. “Wow. At least one of you has a functioning brain cell.” Emma was confused, unaware of what the joke was, but Shouyou was laughing so she let out a chuckle to fit in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is your class! I’ll come get you for lunch!” Shouyou pointed at a door with a sign reading “Class 1-A” above it. “I’ll be right down the hall in class 1-D! Have fun with Saltyshima!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will do!” Emma walked into the classroom and couldn’t stop herself from being confused. She had been showed pictures of “regular” classrooms before, but it was another thing to see one in person. Quickly pulling herself together, she politely asked Tsukkishima which seats were. The only one open was next to a scared looking petite blond girl. “Hi! My name’s Hinata Emma, what’s yours? I just transferred here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girl’s face went white. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oh no, did I already screw this up? What did I do wrong?!? Is it not polite to introduce yourself that way here?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Luckily, Emma’s train of thought was derailed by the girl holding out a shaking hand. “Y-yachi Hitoka. I mean, that’s my name!” Emma shook her hand and sat down. “W-what happened to your ear?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right as Emma was about to use her new excuse (</span>
  <em>
    <span>Camping trip gone awry</span>
  </em>
  <span>) when the teacher walked in and started class. “Class, we have a new student here with us. Hinata Emma, would you mind coming up here and introducing yourself?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure!” Emma walked up to the front of the class. “My name’s Hinata Emma, I just moved here. Please treat me kindly!” She bowed respectfully, </span>
  <em>
    <span>still feels weird</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and the class erupted with questions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata? Isn’t he that one short kid on the volleyball team?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did she move here right before exams?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened to your ear?!?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now now class, one at a time.” The class settled down at hearing their teacher, some respectfully raising their hands with questions. “Emma, would you mind answering a few questions?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not at all sir!” Emma quickly ran through her cover story. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I moved here from the mountains, been moving around a lot lately, fostering at the Hinata’s house, and went on a camping trip gone wrong</span>
  </em>
  <span>. The teacher called on a kid with black hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you related to Hinata Shouyou? Class 1-D, on the volleyball team?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m currently fostering at his house. Next?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened to your ear!” A girl with light brown hair practically exploded out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, camping trip went wrong. It’s a long story.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’re you wearing the winter uniform when it’s summer?” Ah, this question. It was actually Yamaguchi who asked this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Again, camping trip.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The teacher spoke up again. “Okay, that’s enough of that. So for class today…” And so Emma’s first day continued.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Her first morning was boring, to put it simply. The “gifted” classes were all super boring, and she didn’t even have history that day! Emma decided to just resort to texting Ray and Norman the whole time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> Uuuuuuuuuuuugghhhhhh, how have you guys made it with a week of this already????????? I’m soooooo booooooooooooreedddddddddddddd</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Lmaoooooooo</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>you’ll get used to it </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> help I have some weird man following me</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Owlman: </b>
  <span>*photo of one Oikawa Tooru looking up at the camera. It can be presumed that Norman is sitting in a tree, and a fairly tall one at that*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>I have a personal tiny gremlin man now. His name is Kenma</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> *Photo of Kozume Kenma on a nintendo switch with Ray sitting next to him*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>Ahhh no fair! I haven’t made any friends yet :( </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman: </b>
  <span>Impossible.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Impossible.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>I think I scared someone? All I did was say hi and she looked terrified?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> oof</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> Wow, so slow? I made my foster brother actually piss his pants when he first saw me.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> He was overwhelmed by your sheer ugliness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> I bet you were scowling at him! That means it doesn’t count!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Whatever.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Wait shouldn’t you two be in class? I’m only on my phone because I have free period. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> I’m on free period too…</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> Emma I saw your class schedule. Get to chemistry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> goshdarnit I got caught</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> please just say fuck</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>I will never say that word in my entire diddly-dang life you whipper snapping hedgehog!</span>
</p><p> </p><p><b>Lightitup:</b> <em><span> p l e a s e </span></em></p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Owlman:</b>
  <span> Okay I have to get to class now, Emma go to class.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Bye bye loser </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>bye Norman!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(At Aoba Johsai)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Norman leaned back against the tree he was sitting in. He didn’t understand why this Oikawa dude kept following him, but it was starting to get annoying. “Hey, Shittykawa was it?” The mentioned Shittykawa gasped at the crude name, “Mind moving out of the way? Just back up a bit.” Oikawa looked confused, but complied. Norman made his way hopping down the tree, ending with a flip from five feet up because he’s ExtraTM. Oikawa was surprised. Norman was a stick, and had near to no muscle on him. And where would he learn to do that anyways?!? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should join the volleyball team,” Oikawa blurted out before thinking. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask! The worst he could do is tell you no, which he won’t.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for the offer, Oikawa-senpai, but I’ll pass.” Leaving Oikawa to try and process what had happened, Norman walked off to find his next class. He still hadn’t memorized the entire campus, a failing on his part, but he would be able to find it soon enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I wonder when I can get to meet up with Emma and Norman in person again</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Norman thought as he walked into his class. It was going to be hard to fully transition, but at least they were still all nearby.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Fuck you, sexism</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Emma asserts dominance and Asahi gets spooked</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>!!!Please read!!!</p><p>So I just want to clarify that this fic contains MANGA SPOILERS! for the entirety on the promised neverland, including the ending and characters not in the anime currently. If you want to read the manga, this website works: https://promisedneverland.com/  I recommend just reading the whole thing, but if you want to skip to where the anime leaves off you should go to chapter 38. </p><p>There shouldn't really be any haikyuu spoilers, this takes place around the beginning of season 2.</p><p>TW: Ray jokes about what happened in episode 11 (chapter 32).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Emma decided to walk around campus and check out the other clubs at the end of the day instead of watching the volleyball practice. She would still have to circle back to the gym eventually though, simply because she didn’t want to walk back home alone and the sports practice always lasted longer than any of the other clubs. Shouyou had seemed a little sad at her not coming to his practice, saying something along the lines of “freak quick” and “Bakageyama”. Emma didn’t really understand what a “Bakageyama” was, and when she texted Ray and Norman they didn’t seem to know either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>None of the clubs really caught her interest, the academic ones being too easy or boring, she just wasn’t into arts and crafts, and no girl’s team for anything other than volleyball, which she wasn’t into.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After just casually walking around the various buildings for a bit, Emma finally noticed something interesting, or rather heard. The tell-tale </span>
  <em>
    <span>woosh</span>
  </em>
  <span>es of an arrow flying off of a bow! Now there was something she was into! Deciding to run over, the orange haired girl practically ran into the supervisor. “Sorry! Heard the sound of shooting and couldn’t resist running over! The name’s Hinata Emma!” The supervisor looked a little surprised. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Hinata, I’m sorry but this is a boy’s only club.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Bullshit! </span>
  </em>
  <span>Emma’s brain provided. Looking around, there did seem to only be boys there. A few of them were snickering. “There is a lovely knitting club, though, that I’m sure you’d love! Your hands are too dainty to be doing archery, anyways.” It was a good thing that Emma wasn’t legally allowed to carry at school (</span>
  <em>
    <span>yet</span>
  </em>
  <span>). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, my hands are too dainty? Well, then how could my dainty hands do this?” She ran and grabbed a bow and some arrows before shooting them off all into the bullseye. The teacher just looked pissed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want to go there? I’m one of the 100 best archers in the world!” </span>
  <em>
    <span>That literally means nothing to me</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “How about this, Ms. Dainty, if you can hit the bullseye more times than me, I’ll let you join my club.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds fun, but I haven’t gotten to go shooting in a while, so I may be a little rusty.” Emma threw on her most innocent faces. “Don’t go too hard on me, okay?”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Asahi remembered that he had to return a form to his homeroom teacher halfway through practice. After getting permission from Daichi and coach Ukai, he made his way over to the archery range where he hoped their club was still going on. Instead of seeing the normal shooting and joking around like he expected, he walked over to find Hinata’s sister with a blindfold on about to attempt to shoot a water bottle off of the top of one of the targets. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Deciding that for his own safety, he would simply walk away. Unfortunately, it was at the moment he was about to move that Hinata let the arrow fly. It drifted directly into the plastic bottle. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wow</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Asahi thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m terrified</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He walked away, deciding to just give the form to the teacher tomorrow. Speaking of the teacher, he was currently yelling something Asahi couldn’t make out, but whatever it was, Hinata looked pissed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Making his way back into the gym, Asahi walked over to Daichi to explain what had happened. “Girl Hinata is terrifying,” Asahi said as the captain noticed him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata Emma? You’re talking about the girl from this morning, right?” Asahi nodded. “She’s Hinata’s twin in everything but blood, how could she be terrifying?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should’ve seen her with a bow and arrow! She shot a water bottle off of a target that was like at least 5 meters away! Blindfolded!” Daichi did a double take. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhm, that’s… interesting. Anyways, you should join in with the other wing spikers, they’re practicing spikes.” Asahi nodded and walked over to where the others were practicing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata, remind me to not get on your sister’s bad side.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The resident orange looked confused. “What do you mean? Her bad side?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Asahi shuddered. “I saw her with the archery club,” he explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata lit up. “Oh yeah! She mentioned when she first moved in that she liked shooting and stuff!” Everyone who heard looked over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Emma can use a gun?!? Woah!” Tanaka exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she’s apparently mostly self taught too. Something about a camping trip? She’s kinda touchy about the subject, though, so I’m trying not to pry. I’ve seen her in the kitchen though, she’s really good with knives.” A chill went down everyone’s spines. Somehow, their instincts told them that she wasn’t as innocent as she appeared. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...” Was the overall response everyone had. They continued practice like normal, though some people couldn’t seem to get the new orange-haired girl out of their heads, though some in different ways than others. Tanaka, for example, was wondering if she’d show him how to look cool with a gun, while Asahi was thinking of all the things other than apples she might have shot before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After thoroughly shocking all the sexists, Emma ran over to the gym, now holding the respect of the entire archery club and then some. She opened the door to find everyone doing after-practice stretches. “Hey Shouyou!” She walked over to the orange-haired boy. “How was practice?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was good! I got a couple of really really good spikes in, they went all KABLOW and BASHOOM! You know!?!” Shouyou made large hand gestures, and while Emma didn’t truly know what he was saying, she decided to just play along. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow! That sounds like fun.” She glanced around, noticing that one really tall boy with slight stubble seemed to be nervous about something. “Hey, is that guy okay?” She gestured to the tall person.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Azumane-senpai? He said he saw you shooting earlier, and for some reason he’s been kinda upset since.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma had to hold in the urge to burst out in laughter. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If he thought that was scary</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>then I wonder what he might’ve done if he’d been to half the places I’ve been</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She must’ve laughed a bit, though, because now Shouyou and another boy with dark hair were looking at her weirdly. “Oh, sorry, it’s just that…'' Emma trailed off, trying to come up with an excuse that wouldn’t frame herself badly, “I thought that he should’ve been here! Not all the way at the other end of campus!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay then.” The raven haired boy stated. “My name is Kageyama, I’m the setter for this team and also a first year. Hinata has told me about you.” Emma wondered if this was the “Bakageyma” that plagued her foster brother. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s nice to meet you!” Emma smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Huh</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So… do you like volleyball?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really, but it looks like you enjoy it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... Why don’t you come with us for pork buns! There’s this great little shop just a little ways away from here!” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Thank goodness for Shouyou</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Emma thought. The three started walking, with Emma and Shouyou enthusiastically talking about their day while Kageyama occasionally threw things in. The taller boy, however, did seem surprised when Emma talked about the whole archery thing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just challenged him to, like, an archery duel?!? That’s so cool!!” Shouyou then went off on some tangent of how he always ends up meeting scary, powerful volleyball players in the bathroom before matches. “It’s like a narration tactic of something!” He concluded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They parted ways with Kageyama, and Shouyou started talking about the summer training camp in Tokyo he was going to go to. “... And then there’s Kenma! He’s a second year, but he’s so cool! All his sets are like, SWOOSH! And SHAWOW! You know?” Emma nodded, not really following but going along anyways. “He’s been talking about his new friend, Ray, a lot lately. Ray is apparently Kuroo-san’s foster brother.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh I know Ray! We were… in the same foster home! We stayed in touch.” She hoped that would suffice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So cool! Hey, what if you volunteered to be our manager so you could go with me?!? Then you could see your friend and meet all of mine!” Emma considered it. It had been a while since she had gotten to see Ray in person, a few weeks, and she was getting a bit homesick for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not? I can just say it’s not my style afterwards if I don’t like it.” Deciding to be an agent of chaos like she is, Emma concluded that she would hang out with Norman soon and tell him, but not tell Ray. Ray could just be surprised when he got there. She knew that Ray would be at the camp because he told them all about how his foster brother dragged him into being an assistant manager, but that basically meant he refilled water bottles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When they got back home, Emma ran upstairs to facetime her friends. It had been so weird, at first, having a phone and learning how to use all this new technology, but she was slowly but surely getting the hang of it. Starting up the call, Norman almost immediately joined. “Emma help.” He deadpanned while running away from a blur that looked like his uniform. “My senpai is trying to kidnap me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just want you to try out for the volleyball team!” Norman had stopped to catch his breath, the blur becoming less a blur now as it and another person caught up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can guarantee you don’t want him. He might be able to run fast, but he’s absolute shit at everything else.” Norman looked offended, but not really because he knew how true the statement was, while a boy with brown swoopy hair (presumably the blur) started talking again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not true! I saw him do a flip off a tree! You clearly just haven’t seen him do that!” Norman and Emma burst into laughter at that, not noticing that Ray had joined the call on mute and camera off. On his side, his foster brother, Tetsurou, and Kenma were snickering. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma paused laughing for a second and told the swoopy boy “No, trust me, I know him better than you do.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Shittykawa-senpai, she knows me better,” Norman added. The boy, Shittykawa?, gasped at his vulgar language.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look at that, Iwa-chan! You’ve infected him!” A tall boy, the one who had been chasing after Shittykawa, laughed off screen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ya know, maybe you should just not overestimate Norman’s physical abilities. And maybe even don’t overestimate his mental ones, either, I nearly beat him at chess last time we got together.” Ray was now unmuted, camera on with the Nekoma team behind him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that Nekoma!?!” Shouyou slid into Emma’s room, as if summoned by the gods of volleyball. “Oh, hi Oikawa!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shittykawa? Oikawa? Well, whatever his name was, he was confused. “Is- is that Nekoma?!? And Chibii-chan from Karasuno?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up Shittykawa.” Norman used his dictator voice, making those who didn’t know it startle. “I’m trying to talk to my friends here, so go reapply your gallon of hairspray.” Oikawa now pouted and thankfully walked away without questioning. Later, he would interrogate Norman on how he knew Nekoma, but that would be later (and it’s not like he would get anything out of the white haired boy, anyways).</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>The Nekoma team was surprisingly chill, despite them and Karasuno apparently being rivals. Shouyou almost spilled Emma’s surprise, but the girl was already a step ahead with some secret bribery to convince him to not spill (Which was surprisingly easy). Ray ended up going outside to talk with them, and they all discussed how Emma and Norman’s first days went. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... So then I did a flip off the tree to shove it in his face!” Norman finished his story, Ray and Emma laughing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray, of course, decided to throw in a bit of dark humour. “A part of me wants to throw a match at him to see if he’s doing my plan, but prepared for it 24/7, what with all the product in his hair!” Ray was the only one laughing at that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma donned her serious face. “No, Ray, we’ve talked about this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray rolled his eyes, but they all knew he was taking it seriously. “I know, Emma. I know.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Little did the three know, but Shouyou was actually camped outside Emma’s door and heard the conversation. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he wanted to know if they talked about Kenma since Kuroo junior was apparently his friend, and he wanted to get to know his foster sister better, sue him! He knew she had been bouncing around the system for a few years after the orphanage she was originally at burned down. She liked hunting, running, and was really smart. When she wasn’t doing some form of activity, she could be found on her phone, texting her old friends. Shouyou wasn’t quite sure why she felt the need to text them constantly, though. He had his mom and sister, but he didn’t want to be next to them </span>
  <em>
    <span>constantly</span>
  </em>
  <span>! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyways, he was listening when he heard something that was a little bit concerning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... throw a match at him to see if he’s doing my plan -”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Throw a match at him? They were talking about Oikawa, right? Wait, did that mean… had Kuroo tried to light himself on fire?? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Shoyou’s mind fluttered through lots of different questions. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Was he abused? What made him want to light himself on fire? … Did Emma want to set herself on fire too?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Deciding to approach his foster sister later, Shouyou got ready for bed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll ask her later. There’s probably a reason she hasn’t told me.</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Back in Emma’s room, she was recounting the whole archery incident. “... And they thought it was impressive! Like I get that it’s kinda hard at first, just look at Norman! He can barely handle a handgun! But still, 20 meters is barely anything!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Norman chuckled. “Emma, most people consider that a great feat here. It’s not like the world depends on those kids being able to shoot well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma pouted, but agreed. “Well, anyways, it’s getting late. I don’t want to be late tomorrow!” Ray and Norman said their goodbyes, and Emma got ready for bed. While she was laying in the dark, however, she thought something to herself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just how much of our conversation did Shouyou overhear?</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me, sitting down to write this chapter: I want fluff! So I'll write fluff!<br/>Shouyou and Ray: a r e y o u s u r e a b o u t t h a t </p><p>Thanks for reading! Comments fuel me! </p><p>If you want any Haikyuu ships in here, let me know! I don't plan on including any TPN ships tho</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Norman is a war criminal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oikawa and Emma hijinks </p><p>Let Emma Swear 2021</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>!!!!!!LAST WARNING FOR MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!<br/>from this chapter on, there will be detailed spoilers for the manga. I put a link for a site you can read the manga on in the last chapter, go there if you need the link.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The next two weeks seemed to fly by. Shouyou was practicing hard, and Emma was working as the assistant manager. Surprisingly, she actually had fun. Tanaka was more open around her now, and their combined feral energy was immaculate. The jobs she had were mostly just errands, like refilling water bottles and taking notes for Coach, but Emma was enjoying it. Speaking of the coach, he and Emma hit it off really well. In a way, he reminded her of Yuugo, though thinking of her </span>
  <strike>
    <span>father figure</span>
  </strike>
  <span> friend for too long made her sad, and she wanted to remember that this was a safe world! The chances of her new friends dying were a lot lower than before!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of all the teammates, Emma got along best with Shoyou (obviously), Tanaka, Sugawara, and surprisingly Tsukkishima. Apparently, word had spread about her little fiasco at the archery range, and that made more people want to be her friend, but also caused a lot more people to avoid her. She already stood out, having transferred so late, and into the best class nonetheless, but now she really felt left out. Luckily, the volleyball club had her back. People taunting her about her ear when they think she can’t hear them? A convenient Tsukishima grunt. Someone who thinks that she cheated the archery club approaching? Tanaka wants to talk to his second favorite kouhai about Kiyoko, so screw off! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like Emma couldn’t handle them, quite the opposite actually, but it was more that she was too hyped up to go to Tokyo and see Ray again that she didn’t care about the rude people around her. She was meeting up with Norman weekly, and the last two meetups had been quite eventful. The short versions go as follows:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few days after chapter 2 ended:</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Emma and Norman had decided to meet up outside Aoba Johsai, then go to a cat cafe nearby. When Emma had arrived, Norman had a smug look on his face like the little shit he was, and standing a little ways away from him was Oikawa. Funny story, Norman actually had to clarify that “shit” wasn’t a common part of Japanese last name when Emma expressed her confusion at the vulgarity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyways, the orange haired girl noticed Oikawa (and of course Iwaizumi was also there, he seemed to be Oikawa’s supervisor </span>
  <span><strike>or babysitter</strike> </span>
  <span>or something) was “harassing” Norman as the white haired boy put it. “Hey Norman!” Emma ran over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Emma! 23.7 seconds early.” Norman had started doing this annoying thing of timing everything. Emma realized that it was a way of grounding himself, counting. She understood, everyone had their own ways to cope. “I hope you don’t mind them stalking us,” he widely gestured to the two boys, “this Shittykawa boy can’t seem to leave me alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, my name is Iwaizumi Hajime. Third year here, ace of the volleyball team, and official Oikawa wrangler.” The taller boy politely introduced himself, and Emma shook his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata Emma, first year at Karasuno, official wrangler of Norman and others. Nice to meet you.” Iwaizumi perked at the mention of her new last name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you, by chance, related to Hinata of the Karasuno volleyball team?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he’s my foster brother.” Emma didn’t really want to drag this conversation out, there were cats to be pet, damnit! “Well, I wish you luck with Shittykawa. Norman and I will be going now, see you around.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa wasn’t even able to get a word in the conversation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next time, however, he was more prepared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>(The rest of their meetup went very smoothly, insert 50 new photos of Emma on Norman’s phone, insert Emma forcing Norman to download some social media apps)</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>A few days before now:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma had noticed how stressed her foster brother was about the upcoming exams, and volunteered herself and Norman to tutor him. The white haired boy knew that they were studying together, but Emma somehow forgot to mention the guest that she had invited. They had previously agreed to meet up in the Aoba Johsai library since it was bigger and quieter. Norman was surprised, to say the least. He had heard of the orange haired boy, and seen him barge into face times quite regularly, but he hadn’t expected to meet him in person so soon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you must be the Norman that Emma keeps talking to! I’m Hinata Shouyou!” Shouyou raised a hand in greeting. “I’m so glad you agreed to help tutor me, I’m an absolute mess right now. You see, there’s this camp…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Norman zoned out of what Shouyou was saying, just politely smiling and nodding at random, while maintaining eye contact with Emma. She knew she was screwed, but seemed to have accepted death. It was only when Norman realized Shouyou had asked him a question that he refocused on the male tangerine. “Sorry, would you mind repeating that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked how good you are at math. Emma’s great and all, but she isn’t really the best at explaining it.” Emma shrugged, Shouyou continuing. “I think I’ve got a few subjects down, thanks to some of my teammates and Emma, but math and history are where I’m struggling the most currently.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Norman tensed at the mention of history. “I’m actually really terrible at history, but I can definitely help. Name’s Nakamura Norman by the way, nice to meet you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The three of them studied peacefully for a few hours, and by Emma’s count Norman had only almost snapped at Shouyou four times, which was honestly impressive. But, unfortunately, like all good things, this quiet study session would have to come to an end by means of one Oikawa Tooru (Iwaizumi was also there). </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oikawa burst into the room, a whiteboard being pulled behind him. Another boy other than Iwaizumi was also there, with a weird blond mohawk type haircut and a mean expression on his face. “NAKAMURA NORMAN!” the dramatic brunette declared, “I have prepared a presentation on why you should join my volleyball team.” The board was turned around to display a decent display, including some graphs and data tables that didn’t seem all too relevant, but were a nice touch. “Wait, Chibii-chan and Chibii-chan the girl? Well, whatever, I worked hard on this. Nakamura-kouhai! I have compiled the evidence, and-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll tell you what, I’ll join your team if you can beat Emma at arm wrestling. It doesn’t even have to be you who does it, or on the first try, just have one of the team members beat her and I’ll join, no questions asked.” Oikawa looked like a kid in a candy shop, while Iwaizumi looked interested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re on! A little lady like her? No problem.” The author would like to now take a moment and point out how Oikawa made a few major errors here. Let’s go through them together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>First of all, it's never a good idea to address any friend of Norman, Emma in particular, as a “little lady”. Though Emma may be on the smaller side of her age group, she most certainly isn’t little. She has fought off far stronger monsters than Oikawa, most with just a rifle in the pitch black, so simply pushing a hand to a table wasn’t that big of a deal for her. When she was bored in the bunker while on break, she would work out. It became a sort of competition between her and her siblings when she was home, seeing who could get the closest to beating her. The last winner of the title had been Anna, who also seemed to find exercise relaxing. Though her frame didn’t show it, she could pack quite the punch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> But back to the present, Norman was offering his chair to Oikawa while mouthing the word </span>
  <em>
    <span>payback</span>
  </em>
  <span> at Emma. The orange haired girl couldn’t even find it in herself to be pissed at Norman, she just wanted to crush the setter’s hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright… we all know the rules of arm wrestling! First hand to touch the table loses! No standing up, no outside help. Elbows on the table… start!” Norman had a flair for dramatics occasionally, and it appeared that now was one of those times. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma didn’t immediately win. No, she wanted some revenge for him underestimating her. Out of the corner of her eye, Shouyou had begun recording their match. She didn’t really process this though, too caught up in her strategy of breaking his spirit in this simple game.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a minute of Oikawa pushing and pushing on Emma’s arm, trying to make it go the two more inches he needed to win, Emma casually checked her left hand’s nails before slamming Oikawa’s hand down on the table. “This ‘little lady’ might not wanna play again, what if I ruin my nails with your gross sweat, Shittykawa?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again, Emma had left Oikawa speechless. He knew his arm strength, he had scored well above average on the grip test at the beginning of the school year. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Am I getting rusty</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>or do I just need to reevaluate my perception of her?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After Iwaizumi lost for the fifth time in a row, he claimed to have homework he needed to work on, but not before shaking Emma’s hand, accepting defeat as a polite loser. Oikawa, however, didn’t accept his defeat. He, over the course of the next hour, pulled every club member he could find around campus to arm wrestle Emma. Since it was a day off from the club, Emma only got to go against about half of the team and one of the coaches. Since Norman wasn’t moving from helping Shouyou, it could be assumed that she had won all of the matches. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so now you carry the four… Hinata, are you listening? I’m not going to help you if you keep turning around every minute.” Norman considered himself a patient soul (he really isn’t), but this was starting to get on his nerves. He had wanted to just hang out with Emma today, looking over history textbooks and laughing at how dumb they are. They didn’t even have any mention of an entire half of the world in them! But no, he was stuck with the lesser Hinata, trying to explain the quadratic formula for the seventh time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I just gotta record some of these, otherwise the team won’t believe me when I tell them about today!” Shouyou, as always, didn’t want to be doing the work even though that’s the whole reason he came. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then we should take a break. It’s getting late, I’ll probably be heading home soon.” Shouyou enthusiastically agreed with him, and went off to call someone. Norman drifted over to Emma, who was currently wrestling someone who wasn’t even a member of the volleyball team, according to someone’s whisper. The orange haired girl was casually reading a history textbook while sadistically not crushing her opponent. “Hey Emma, it’s late. I’m heading out soon, wanna grab some dinner?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma slammed the boy’s hand down onto the table and stood up. “Sure! I just finished this chapter anyways. I saw this soba place on my way here, wanna check it out?” With a nod from her friend, Emma continued talking. “Great! Where’s Shouyou?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He went off to call someone. Also, he apparently recorded some of your matches to show to his teammates. “ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh that’s fine. I do wonder how they’ll react though, considering the whole archery thing.” In the background, Oikawa could be seen mouthing ‘</span>
  <em>
    <span>whole archery thing</span>
  </em>
  <span>’ with a dumbfounded look on his face. He had faced Emma a total of seven times, losing all of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two friends walked off to find Shouyou, thus bringing an end to the study session turned flex on Oikawa session. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Now back to present time:</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>It was the day before they were meant to leave for Tokyo. Shouyou and Kageyama had failed one exam each, and would have to stay behind. Luckily, Tanaka’s sister had volunteered to drive them all the way there with “Slightly less than legal speed!” Emma was excited. She, Ray, and Norman facetimed a few times a week, sure, but it was different than being able to see the two in person. Norman had wholeheartedly agreed with her dumbass plan, saying that it was “a dumbass but effective plan”, so Emma was sure it was great. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the way of arm wrestling, Shouyou showed everyone the videos. Tanaka’s reaction had been to find the nearest table and fight her. He lost, and eventually everyone on the team including the coach and supervisor tried and lost against her. Some of the more notable matches were Sawamura, who looked like she punched him in the face when she automatically slammed his hand down onto the table out of boredom, and Coach, who ended muttering something about how maybe the cigarettes were getting to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, Emma left that particular a few days ago with just a few more people fearing and respecting her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Emma prepared her bag, not really what to wear. She was never big on fashion, considering the fact that she wore the same thing for eleven years, but now she had all sorts of clothes to pick from. She wouldn’t lie, it was a bit overwhelming to say the least when she had to go to a store and buy clothes for the first time. In the end, the girl just through a bunch of random plain t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts, and some skirts in and called it good. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tomorrow, she will get to see Ray. Going over the plan one more time in her head, she tucked herself into bed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Tomorrow’s the day</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that I’ll rock his shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me: Okay, this'll be short, maybe a 1000 words. Just a quick, in between chapter, gets us to the camp. That's the plan.<br/>Norman, whipping out 1.6k words about him: oh ho ho you thought bitch</p><p>If anyone wouldn't mind, I would love to see if you'd drop your favorite quote and/or tell me you favorite scene from this so far in the comments! It helps me know what more to write, since I post this as I write it! No pressure if you don't want to tho</p><p>Next chapter, a wild Ray appears!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. It's Nerf or Nothing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Things that happen in this chapter:<br/>- Emma gets a (fake) gun<br/>- Ray is (not) regretting going to training camp<br/>- Yamamoto is totally not scared of Emma (lies)</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Quick note, I won't be tagging any TPN related triggers. If you're reading this fic, I assume you are okay with the content and maturity level in TPN. If. however, there are any non-TPN triggers you want me to tag/put a warning for, let me know! I totally understand and will help.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ray had some expectations for this camp. Earth’s demise, monsters finding a way back over here, and finding the dead bodies of his friends and family were never removed from that list of expectations, though they were now significantly less likely to happen. He hadn’t, however, expected this. He was just chatting with Kenma about some new game when he casually looked around only to notice Emma holding a gun. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wait</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Ray thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>a gun? An Emma?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Very nice, Ray’s brain. Very nice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Said Emma and gun came running at him. Going into a defensive stance, Ray braced his vital parts for impact, only to see Emma pelt him with… rubber and foam bullets? </span>
  <em>
    <span>A ‘Nerf’ gun</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Of course</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey nerd!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Emma I swear to Him, I will suffocate you in your sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Awwww, I missed you too!” Emma gave him a tight hug. Ray did miss her, it just would’ve been nice if she hadn’t come after him with a gun. He knew what she could do with one, even if it was plastic, foam, and soft rubber. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, this is Emma?” Ray’s foster brother, Tetsurou, was leaning against the Nekoma bus. “Ray talks about you all the time, nice to finally put a face to the name.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yup! Hinata Emma, nice to meet you!” Tetsurou and Kenma perked up at that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata? Like Shouyou?” Kenma inquired. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he’s my foster brother.” Emma was still hugging Ray. “He failed an exam though, so he’ll be late.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma and Ray started talking to each other using their own language of sibling’s names and inside jokes built up over fourteen years. The Karasuno team was currently searching for her, because apparently Emma had failed to mention her plan to anyone in any way other than telling Tanaka that she was going to say hi to a friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two talked for a good fifteen minutes, subjects ranging from the latest arguments in the Grace Feild and Cattle ChildrenTM group chats, to their opinions of the picture of a giraffe Norman had sent to Emma earlier, to how they both ended up getting roped into being managers. Apparently, Ray would be the only male manager there, not that he had a problem with it though. He had over twenty sisters, nothing about being around that many girls was weird to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hinata! We were looking for you, oh hey Kuroo, Kozume.” Sugawara had made his way over to the orange haired girl. He gestured to Ray, who Emma was still hugging, and said “This’s your friend?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! We- we were in the same foster home for a long time.” Emma stuttered slightly over her part truth part lie, uncomfortable with making Ray less familial to her herself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you know that this little shit here decided to surprise me by shooting at me with a nerf gun? I swear, just when I was settling down, she jumps out of nowhere.” Ray, despite saying this, was still hugging Emma just as hard as she was hugging him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sugawara looked surprised, but not entirely shocked at Ray calling his apparent once foster sister a little shit because he had seen the devious look on Emma’s face throughout the ride… and the whole archery thing… and the fact that she had some concerning (to say the least) scars all over her legs and arms… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay then! Hinata, we need to be heading over to gym B, the team’s warming up soon. Nice to meet you, Hinata’s friend! My name’s Sugawara, by the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Name’s Kuroo Ray. See ya, Emma. I better best hope your gun gets confiscated.” Ray let go of the girl, ruffling her hair in a way that she said annoyed her, but he knew she loved. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ray!! You know I’m smarter than that! Anyways, later!” Emma ran off with Sugawara, waving to Ray and his new friends all the way until she had to turn a corner.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well… she’s more high-energy than you, that’s for sure.” Tetsurou pushed himself off the bus, realizing the time. “Sugawara is right, we better go and start warming up. Kenma,” he had to poke the setter multiple times to get his attention, “let’s go! I wanna meet up with Bokuto before we have to start playing!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray watched their antics for a minute or so before just grabbing both of them by the back of their jackets and dragging them into the gym to warm up. Dumping the two on the ground in front of Yaku, leaving him to deal with them. Yaku took one look at Ray’s slightly less sadistic than normal smirk and frowned. “Why are you happy,” he inquired. “Who died.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No one, actually, this time. My friend just decided to surprised me by showing up here. I’m sure you’ll see her later, knowing her she won’t leave me alone as soon as her team is on a break.” Again, Ray’s smile turned less sadistic and more sincere, making it all the more scary to certain players (ahem, Lev, ahem). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, you have a girlfriend?!?” Yamamoto paused in his stretching to march up to the ever so slightly taller boy. “To think my little kouhai is all grown up now, I feel like a proud dad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t call her his girlfriend… more partner in crime. She ran up to him, barely one sixty centimeters mind you, and just pelts him with nerf bullets! She did that to Ray! And is still alive!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray shrugged. “I mean, she’s way stronger than me. In fact, I have this one video… nevermind. Anyways, she could take down any of you at armwrestling. If you don’t believe me, there’s two sets of captains and aces from teams near her who can testify to her strength.” The team was now more curious in this girl, but they needed to focus on volleyball now. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nekoma ended up meeting the mystery girl at lunch when they decided to go eat with Karasuno on some picknick tables. Everything was going peacefully, until the Karasuno manager and a short orange haired girl walked over. She was missing an ear, though it was covered with a little braid, and she had lots of scratches and nicks on her legs and arms. She and Shimizu were carrying the food for Karasuno, the shorter balancing cups, bowls, and sets of chopstickes on top of a huge tank of water that had to weigh a ton. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, Tanaka! You didn’t tell me that you got another cute manager!” Yamamoto leaned over to his friend to say this, only to see his friend’s reaction wasn’t what he expected. Tanaka had leaned over and had his hands on his friend’s shoulders, wearing the most serious expression Yamamoto had ever scene him have.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, let me get a few things clear with you, and you can spread this around. Hinata the girl is off limits to any sort of flirting, teasing, and especially harrasment. I’m not saying this in the same way I do for Kiyoko, this is just for your own safety. She’s a literal beast. I once saw her snap a dude’s flip phone in half for trying to get an up-skirt shot. She challenged our school’s entire archery team to a shoot-off, and won. I’m sure that she’s done even more before transferring here. But anyways,” the bald boy suddenly lost the serious demener, “she’s a lot of fun to hang out with! Seriously, another Hinata but a girl!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though Yamamoto couldn’t find it in himself to believe that, he nodded and went with it. Better safe than sorry. Soon enough, he would come to thank himself for heeding his friend’s advice when he saw some dude from Shinzen try to flirt with her. She was sitting by the littler Kuroo, and between her not being dead and Tanaka’s warning he figured it was safe to assume this was the dark haired boy’s friend, who had the guts to attack him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guy wasn’t even polite, just mosying over to her as though he had not a single care in the world, and reached down to grab her shoulder. Now, Yamamoto was stiting close enough that he could hear the sleazeball shoot his shot. Tanaka was also watching intently, seemingly ready to hop in and help at any moment should she choose to just beat him up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sorry, would you midn helping me find something Ray?” The orange haired girl had a sickly sweet tone of voice that she was using, much higher pitched and feminine than before. Kuroo nodded, apparently he knew what this was a build up for. “Great, because I can’t seem to find </span>
  <em>
    <span>where I asked for this fucko’s opinion</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” At ‘where’, her voice dropped roughly an octave and a half, tone becoming a sick deadpan that made Yamamoto grateful that he wasn’t on the receiveing end of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, I don’t recall seeing it anywhere as well. The usual deal?” Kuroo the older was watching Kuroo the younger assist Hinata, looking mildly surprised, but not very. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, why not. Haven’t had a real challenge since I went against Iwaizumi, maybe this guy’ll hold up!” Said guy looked confused. He didn’t know what was happening. He did, however, look scared from Hinata’s fast change of mood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, excuse me, what exactly is the usual deal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, sorry, forgot you were there. If you can beat me at armwrestling, you can respectfully ask me out. If I win, you leave me alone.” Hinata put back on her sweet looking face, ready to absolutly decimate this naive boy. “Do you accept? Ray can referee, if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, I guess?” Yamamoto thought that it would be an unfair match up, all things considered. This guy was the vice-captain of the Senzin team, and a wing spiker. He packed quite the punch into his serves, too, so there was no way this tiny girl could stand against him. Right?</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Wrong. With the Senzin guy leaving with a near sprained wrist and Hinata not even breaking a sweat, Karasuno looked more or less undisturbed by the show, while Nekoma was astounded. The guy wasn’t the best, sure, but he was very powerful. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How did she beat him?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Was the question on everyone’s mind as they considered aproaching her. Eventually, Kuroo the older walked over to them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, armwrestling, huh?” He talked so casually, being the normal Kuroo he was despite the scene he’d just watched. “Mind if I challenge you?” Seeing the smaller Kuroo’s burning glare directed at him, he quickly clarified. “Not for a date or anything, just wanna see if you’re really strong or if that guy was just super weak.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata readily agreed. “Sure, just give me a second.” She stretched her arm out and around, something she didn’t do for the Senzin dude. “Sorry, you just look like you’ll take me seriously and I want to be ready.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two sat down facing each other on opposite sides of a picknick table. The two teams moved over to watch, Tanaka pulling his phone out and saying something about Hinata-kun being pissed about not having it for his collection. The orange haired girl looked slightly bored, knowing this would likely be over soon. Yamamoto found himself rooting for his captain out of necesity, and because he had faced him in armwrestling before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The said captain made the first move, putting on a lot of pressure to try and sway her arm. Hinata stayed steady, not even moving a centimeter. When Yamamoto had gone agaisnt Kuroo, it had been over in about ten seconds. “Let’s make a little bet,” Hinata said while maintaining her arm’s position while Kuroo pressed harder and harder, “if I win, you buy me a drink. If you win, I’ll buy your whole team drinks.” The entire Nekoma team perked up at that idea, some still having doubt in the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” Kuroo’s answer was short, probably because he was legitimately struggling to fight her. He had some spare yen, what could it hurt? Suddenly, the Tokyo team was a lot more enthusiastic about hyping Kuroo up so her could defeat her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was, until Hinata actually put in some effort. Kuroo had managed to knock her over by a few centimeters at this point, but it was aparent that she hadn’t actaully been fighting agaisnt him until she moved her hand, crushing his in just a few short seconds. “So, my favorite flavor is that strawberry one, do you want to get it for me or just give me the money?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kuroo the smaller apeared to be about to burst into laughter, quickly pulling out his phone to take a picture of his foster brother and to text somone. Kuroo the slightly taller pulled out his wallet, shaking his head as he stood. “I’ll just get it for you. Great match, though, that was close.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata threw him a blinding smile while saying a simple “Sure!” in somehow the sweetest condecinding voice Yamamoto had heard. He was now really glad he had heeded Tanaka. As she drank her free drink, Yamamoto one thing that he thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wonder if she’ll get along with Bokuto</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Bonus scene:</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>As Bokuto got off the Fukurodani bus, his spine stiffened as he felt the presense of… something! Something that would surely be great! He turned to Akaashi, and pointed in the general direction of the great thing. “There’s something great in that direction! I can smell it in my bones!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Akaashi sighed, tired from dealing with Bokuto on the bus ride over. “No, Bokuto, that’s just the Karasuno bus over there. Now come on, let’s go.” Little did the two know, one Hinata Emma was just getting off her bus, ready to attack a certain edge lord. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Emma: *exists*<br/>Bokuto: these vibes are immaculate, 10/10 would recommend </p><p>Happy holidays! I won't be writing a lot for the next week or so, just a heads up that next chapter will mostly not be out until next year</p><p>Gonna ask for the same thing I did last chapter, again no pressure to, but I would really appreciate it if you'd put your favorite quote and/or scene from this fic in the comments so I know what kind of stuff to include! I'm posting this as I write it, so there's definitely room to take requests and such</p><p>Have a great day/night and don't forget to drink your water!</p><p>Edit: I drew some fanart for myself https://nothingmuch-noreally.tumblr.com/post/638408498614583296/some-fanart-i-drew-for-my-own-fic-said-friend</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Tanaka told you not to fuck with Emma. He told you.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I never promised Emma and Bokuto would get along...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the late update! Hope you enjoy!</p><p>For reference if you haven't caught it yet: everyone from Haikyuu calls Emma "Hinata" or "Hinata-san", while they call Shouyou "Shouyou" or "Hinata-kun". Sorry if that was confusing last chapter!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Of all the people Tanaka had met, Hinata Emma might just claim the place of most interesting. She would have taken the title of most intimidating, but have you seen Tanaka’s sister? Yeah, the most intimidating spot was solidly taken. Anyways, the bald boy had been enjoying his lunch when suddenly there was another Hinata arm wrestling competition. Tanaka readily got his phone out, knowing that Shouyou would kill him if he missed recording any of the impressive ones. Tanaka himself had challenged Hinata seven times, and had lost each and every time with his wallet to testify, though Hinata insisted that they stopped betting after the fourth round because “it’s bad to steal from friends!” If literally anyone else, probably even Shouyou, had told him that, he’d have their head. He doesn’t need pity! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anyways, Hinata was currently being challenged by Fukurodani’s setter, Akaashi Keiji. Hinata seemed a bit bored, and ended the match quickly after setting (ha) the terms of the bet. “Yes! Now, where’s Bokuto?” Ah, so that had been the term. Tanaka’s face blanched. He hadn’t met the infamous ace yet, but from what he heard, he was a beast. If the bald boy was as naive as he was when he first met Hinata, he would have been concerned for the girl. Now, however, he was more concerned for Daichi and Akaashi because they’d inevitably have to deal with the outcome of whatever ended up happening between the orange haired girl and Bokuto. According to a rumor Tanaka heard last year, Bokuto crushed a watermelon between his thighs last camp (no Tanaka isn’t jealous why would he be jealous -). There was almost no doubt in Tanaka’s mind that the orange haired girl could do the same, despite her small stature. Looks could be deceiving, a lesson taught by both Hinatas. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now, Hinata was walking away with Akaashi, presumably to where Bokuto was sitting. “Hey wait up!” He jogged after the two. He was slightly shorter than Akaashi, but definitely taller than Hinata by at least a few centimeters, so it was his surprise to see how fast the two were walking. He almost had to stop and catch his breath after catching up to them, apparently they hadn’t heard him or simply hadn’t bothered to stop. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hey Tanaka! Wanna go with me to meet Bokuto-san?” So it was the former. Hinata was looking a bit more energetic than usual, so there was a good chance she’d heard stories of the boy before from Shouyou. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sure, we still have thirty minutes for lunch, right?” He was now walking with them, sort of struggling to keep up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, and my guess is I can get us to only be five minutes late.” Way to boost the mood, Akaashi. “But we’re here now. Bokuto-san, this girl wants to meet you.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Said Bokuto looked up like a bird from his bento box. “Who?” Oh my gosh, was he actually a bunch of owls in a trench coat?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi! I’m Hinata Emma, I’ve heard a lot about you.” She outstretched a hand to the taller boy, grinning ear to ear. “From what I’ve heard, I think we’ll get along great.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hi Hinata! I’m Bokuto! I think we could be friends, too, but I have a quick question!” Is Bokuto capable of not ending a sentence in an exclamation point? Probably not. “What happened to your ear? Why are there so many scars on your hands? You look like you had a tattoo removed! Who’s baldy over there?” So he can talk without exclamation. With the last question, he pointed over at Tanaka. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ah, that’s Tanaka, and I got my scars from a camping trip.” Hinata had clenched her fists, clearly pissed about something. Tanaka remembered the whole sit down talk Shouyou had given the team the first day after Hinata transferred. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Flashback to the second chapter, while Emma is with the archery club: </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shouyou had everyone gathered together during a water break, claiming that he had an important thing to tell all of the team. “Listen,” he started, “Emma is a little… different. If you hadn’t noticed already, she grew up in a very different place and she has lots of scars from… various things, I’m not actually sure where she got half of them, to be honest.” Looking back, Tanaka remembered the scars on the girl, specifically her missing ear, the blotch on her neck that looked like a removed tattoo, and cuts on her hands that looked like they came from… well, Tanaka just hoped they didn’t come from there. “For her sake, please don’t ask her about them. They’re a really touchy subject, and I know she doesn’t like to talk about them, okay?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>End flashback</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tanaka, now knowing the force of chaos that we know and love called Hinata Emma, was concerned for Bokuto. Though the man may actually be stronger than her, the bald boy suspected that he didn’t stand a chance if she got pissed. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So Bokuto-san!” Tanaka dove into their conversation before the black and white haired boy could do anything else, “I’ve heard that your sort of special move is rebounding. Could you tell me more about that?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The owl-like boy perked up. “Yeah! I like hitting the ball so it bounces back to me!” While saying this, Bokuto made the motions of hitting an imaginary ball. Hinata was silently thanking Tanaka for changing the subject. “I like hitting the ball right through blockers too, though, their faces of defeat fuel me to spike even harder!” At this, he did a dramatic spin to point at Hinata. “You there! Hinata! Do you play volleyball?!?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hinata took the question in stride, answering as she did every time someone asked her that. “No, but it’s fun to watch though! I actually wanted to ask you something, though. Do you like to bet?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tanaka could see where this was going from a mile away, but that didn’t stop him from being impressed and pulling out his camera for the inevitable arm wrestling match. Heaven knows what Shouyou would pay to see a video of his foster sister taking down the Fukurodani ace. The said ace looked curious at Hinata’s question, and answered. “I do indeed like to bet, but what would we be betting?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve heard that you’re strong, and I myself am considered to be too. I propose that for our bet, we arm wrestle. If you win I’ll do whatever you want, and if I win you will give my foster brother, Shouyou, some pointers. Forgot to mention this earlier, but I’m the assistant manager of the Karasuno team, Tanaka and Shouyou play on the team.” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Bokuto took exactly 2.093 seconds to decide that he was all in. “I’m game! Akaashi, what should I make Hinata do when I win?!? I think I’ll have her go up to the Karasuno captain, and then,” Bokuto could hardly contain his own laughter, “she’ll have to say… “Karasuno? More like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Kara-sucks-mo</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”” At this point, he couldn’t hold in his laughter. Hinata looked weirdly neutral, considering the fact that this would most likely be the toughest opponent that she had gone up against yet, and if she lost she would have to say that terrible pun/insult. Making sure he had a good angle with his phone, the bald boy noticed the Fukurodani setter leaning over to him.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Please send me a copy of that. I don’t care who wins. I’ll give you my number after they finish.” Despite Akaashi having a very monotone voice, Tanaka could sense that he was slightly excited and amused. </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Will do. I have a folder with more if you want.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you record the Kuroo one?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Perfect. Mind sending me that one too?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>And with that out of the way, they prepared for the match that was just about to begin. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are ya ready, Chibii-chan?” Bokuto had donned a competitive face, offering his very muscled hand and arm out to the smaller girl.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, Owl-kun.” The owl-like boy had the audacity to gasp as Hinata rolled up her sleeves and grabbed his hand. “Ready?”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely!” Bokuto’s enthusiastic demeanor was quickly demolished, however, as Hinata immediately started to overpower him. “Hey hey hey! Chibii-chan!?!” He almost whined that out, looking almost betrayed as Hinata put more and more pressure. Bokuto was also putting in a lot of pressure, but after about thirty seconds of fighting he gave up. “Wow. You really put up a fight!”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Hinata grinned at him. “So do you! That was the most fun I’ve had with this since I started training!” She then grimaced slightly as though she had said something she wasn’t meant to, but quickly moved on. “Anyways, Shouyou is going to be a bit late today, but if you could just like, show him some of your moves or something later tonight when he gets here? I don’t really actually know that much about volleyball training and stuff, but I know he keeps talking about how he needs to get better at blocking, and my friend Ray told me that you and Kuroo from Nekoma are close friends and had plans to train at night together anyways, and Kuroo is really good at blocking. So, basically,” Hinata had decided to summarize after seeing Bokuto’s slightly confused face, “you and Kuroo teach Shouyou how to block and rebound and stuff later tonight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Bokuto brightened. “Ah! I get it! Akaashi, you were going to stay with us later and practice, right?” The setter nodded. “Great! We were also going to grab that one really tall first year on your team, Tsukki-something, and ask him if he wants to practice later.”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“Great! I’ll come find you with Shouyou after dinner then. Tanaka, we should get going so you can warm up in time.” Checking her watch, the two Karasuno members started walking away. “It was nice meeting you Bokuto-san! See you later Akaashi-san!” </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>As Hinata waved goodbye to the Fukurodani players, Tanaka wondered what Hinata meant by “training”, and why she had reacted the way she did. He ended up forgetting about it, but as Hinata let more and more small things out, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking one question over and over: </span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Who really is Hinata Emma?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Bonus: Technically chapter 5.5 but takes place during chapter 4</p><p>
  <span>Pulling out his phone, Ray opened his favorite group chat, which was entitled “big bunker kids”, and sent a photo of Emma holding her nerf guns while triumphantly standing on top of Ray to it. He added a small caption, “Look who I found”. Immediately, the chat started to blow up. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>AN: Character to gc name guide time! This chat is the older Gracefield and Goldy Pond group (some of the names are from Yuugo, but some came from some trivia I found). Norman isn’t in this group. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Emma - Carrottop</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray - Lightitup</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gilda - Foureyes</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Don - Beanhead</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna - Babysitter</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nat - Nose</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Violet - Notpurple</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gillian - Trafficlight</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oliver - Todorokiripoff</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zach - Zach</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Paula - Mask</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pepe - Muppet </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sonya - Foureyes2.0</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nigel - Washyourhat</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sandy - Dusty</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Big Bunker Kids</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> Look who I found *insert picture of Emma standing on top of him, nerf gun aimed at his head*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Beanhead: </b>
  <span>For a sec I thought that was real-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Foureyes:</b>
  <span> Same</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Foureyes:</b>
  <span> I’m assuming the camp Emma told me about is going well?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> Yeah, she attacked me as soon as her bus got here.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Notpurple:</b>
  <span> good for her </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Paula: </b>
  <span>pls tell me you hit him good</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>I did! His foster brother and friend were there too, and they laughed at him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>apparently</span>
  </em>
  <span>, it’s not a common greeting here to shoot at your family!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> Ah please, I didn’t even hit you that hard! </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span> Coming from a person who’s seen you bend space and time, I think that your definition of “hard” may be a little off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Foureyes: </b>
  <span>ppshhhhhhh</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Trafficlight: </b>
  <span>oop</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Beanhead: </b>
  <span>you know I feel like we don’t talk about that enough</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Beanhead: </b>
  <span>Emma just??? Bended time and space??? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>oh child you don’t know the half of it</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> Anyways, I have some new pics and videos for the folder</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> Yeah, and at least 5 of them including crying. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Babysitter:</b>
  <span> As resident holder of the file, please do send.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>*attatchment of 15 videos and 7 pictures, all of very strong volleyball players losing to Emma at armwrestling. The pictures are highlights of the losses, including multiple of people crying*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Babysitter: </b>
  <span>thanks</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup: </b>
  <span>it’s not shown in the videos but my foster brother Tetsuroo (the one that looks like a rooster) shed a tear as he got Emma a drink</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Todorokiripoff:</b>
  <span> As he should</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Todorokiripoff: </b>
  <span>Have you tried going against her lately??? She hides her strength very well</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Zach: </b>
  <span>You’re just pissed that you lost</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Todorokiripoff: </b>
  <span>… maybe</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Todorokiripoff:</b>
  <span> But last time you went up against her she didn’t even act like she felt anything</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Beanhead:</b>
  <span> I think all of our efforts simply feel like the wind to her</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Beanhead:</b>
  <span> Again, she’s bended time and space.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> But so have I!!! And I still can’t beat her</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Foureyes:</b>
  <span> But you also haven’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>met god and saved humanity</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> you know what, fine. You can have this one. I’m not even going to try and go against that anymore</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> Unrelated, but does anyone know any deities I could contact and any species in need of saving?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop:</b>
  <span> Stop bashing Ray!</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>Not his fault that the god didn’t want to meet him</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Nose:</b>
  <span> Did Emma just-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> aslaknkdvarfnvakfd</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>Anyways, gotta go humble some more people</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Carrottop: </b>
  <span>Bye!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Notpurple:</b>
  <span> I swear those volleyball people are rubbing off on her</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Lightitup:</b>
  <span> You weren’t there for the great prank war of ‘42. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Babysitter:</b>
  <span> I have never faced her head on at her worst, and have no intention to, but sometimes I wonder if facing her like that is what a demon feels like right before its eye gets blown up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Notpurple:</b>
  <span> Wow. I already had a note to myself to not fuck with Emma, but I think I’ll keep that thought in mind. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay so a couple things:<br/>- I think I'll try and update this series weekly from now on<br/>- I say series because I currently have a chatfic for this universe in the works, and a few one shots as well<br/>- You might want to bookmark/subscribe to the series so you don't miss out on any of that<br/>- If you have things you think would make good one shots for this universe, tell me in the comments!</p><p>Is the last bit a little out of character? Yes. Do I care? Not really, because everyone's personalities change over time and I think Emma deserves to be snarky </p><p>Thanks for reading! See you (hopefully) next week, and happy new year!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Concerned? Concerned. Is Shouyou.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>akjdhfakj sorry for the late update! Started writing this, then got wrapped up in the Don story, then got wrapped up in a bunch of other shit, but I'm here now!</p><p>This is the first time I've been able to keep a bit of consistency with my works, and I intend to try and make this at least 50k (hopefully).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shouyou was pissed, to put it simply. He had gotten all the answers right! His hard work had paid off! But <em> noooo </em>, he put all the english questions one too high up because he accidentally skipped filling in a bubble! Cursing the standardized test formatting as he walked into the classroom, Shouyou wondered what his foster sister was doing. She’d already be in Tokyo right now, probably hanging out with that one friend, Ray. While Shouyou wasn’t necessarily actively concerned for Ray’s wellbeing, from time to time he thought about that conversation he had not-so-accidentally eavesdropped on. The guy seemed pretty okay every other time the orange haired boy had interacted with him, whether it be through dropping in on one of Emma’s facetimes or through Emma talking about how he was still trying to scare his foster family. Well, that last part didn’t seem so good, but from what Emma had said, that was just his sense of humor. </p><p>Kageyama was already there when he sat down. <em> At least </em> , Shouyou thought, <em> I don’t have to go through this alone and be the only one to miss training </em> . The tests started soon after he sat down, and it was a few silent hours before Shouyou submitted his. He had gone through twice to double and triple check his answers, almost feeling nauseous as he turned in his workbook. He really didn’t want to get stuck in remedial classes, not when there was volleyball to be played! Kageyama also finished shortly, so they headed out. The taller boy pulled out some onigiri to eat and had the <em> audacity </em> to not even offer Shouyou some! He had just been through a very tough make up test, thank you very much, and he was hungry!</p><p>Right as he was about to start bitching about it, a car pulled up with some english music blasting. Shouyou had just finished an english test and didn’t have the brain cells left to process what they were saying, but based on the girl inside the car he guessed it was pretty dirty. “Hey ya rascals! We gotta get going, Ru is gonna be pissed if you’re too late!” The girl, Tanaka’s older sister Saeko, was waving her arm at them out the window. Shouyou ran over and hopped into the front seat before Kageyama could get the chance. He didn’t <em> think </em> she was kidnapping, she had mentioned Tanaka’s name, so he deemed it good to just go ahead. </p><p>Kageyama hopped in too, still munching on some onigiri which he <em> still </em> didn’t offer. Shouyou supposed he shouldn’t be pissed over this, it was Kageyama’s onigiri, it was lunch time, and it was Shouyou’s own fault for forgetting to pack anything other than a small protein bar for food. He had been so excited to leave this morning that the fact that he would have to eat had slipped his mind. He had also been loathing the fact that Emma got to go see her friends all day while he was stuck in a classroom and car while he was biking up and down the mountain, so that didn’t help. The orange haired boy chomped on the protein bar, pouting. He and Kenma hadn’t gotten to see each other since when they met a few months ago, though they had facetimed regularly and texted daily. He wondered about Ray, though. From what Emma had said, he was a sweetheart under a rough exterior, but based on what Shouyou had gathered from various cases of eavesdropping was that the rough exterior must be a mile thick because man, that guy is intense! </p><p>The drive to Tokyo was in no way quiet or peaceful. Saeko, as she insisted they call her, was treating this normally stress-free drive like the world cup for Mario Kart, and there was no way she was losing. Shouyou could’ve sworn they caught some air multiple times, his stomach yelling just as loud as his lungs as they did. The girl was very talkative, and Shouyou had fun talking with her. She apparently normally drove a motorcycle, which explained her recklessness. The short boy supposed it was easier to do the sharp turns on it, and there would only be her to worry about should they wreck. But, however, they weren’t currently only Saeko and on a motorcycle. </p><p> </p><p>As they arrived at the gym, Shouyou shouted his thanks over the music as he threw his bag over his shoulder and ran to the doors. Kageyama also gave his thanks and made his way over, only slightly behind Shouyou as the boy shoved opened the doors. Karasuno seemed to be in the middle of a match with Nekoma, perfect! Shouyou waved at Coach and Takeda before continuing over to the lockers, now even more fired up. Kenma was just so much fun to play against! And there were multiple teams there who ranked nationally, so Shouyou just couldn’t wait! </p><p>Kageyama was immediately allowed to swap in, but Shouyou had to wait to rotate in. He looked over at Emma. She was sitting with the boy with spiky hair he had seen over facetime, Ray. He was a bit shorter than he had expected. Walking over, Shouyou jumped up using Emma’s shoulders as support. “Hey guys!”</p><p>Emma flinched ever so slightly, making Shouyou regret jumping up. “Hey, Shouyou, this is my friend Ray I’ve told you about.” Shouyou bowed to the boy, and he returned the favor. “So, Ray, you were talking about that soup?” </p><p>Ray nodded. “I just made the recipe that Mujika gave me, albeit with some,” he glanced over at Shouyou, “- replacements. You would’ve thought I reinvented soup, the way Tetsuro was gobbling it up!” The two started laughing over the unsaid inside joke. “He was acting like Don, though. Remember the first time I made it and he accused me of just throwing shit in a pot?” Emma nodded enthusiastically.</p><p>“It’s weird though, Yuugo accused me of the same thing! He said that “This isn’t a soup, this is a sprinkle of dirt in some fucking rotten anenomes!”” Ray snickered, almost sad. Shouyou didn’t think he’d heard the name Yuugo from Emma before. He also thought, wondering what kind of name was “Mujika”. He concluded it was most likely African, or maybe Nordic. The two siblings seemed to have forgotten he was there, though, so he just stood in silence as they talked more. <em> What did Emma mean by “A sprinkle of dirt and rotten anemones”? Her situation was bad, sure, but it wasn’t that bad, right? </em> He turned back into the conversation right as he was called to rotate in, so he only caught the tail end of what Ray had to say. </p><p>“- I was actually planning on stopping by you soon, though. Wanted to see Phil as well.” <em> Phil? </em> How many shared foster siblings did these two <em> have </em>? Shouyou could barely handle having two siblings, even though one of them was his age, how did they manage with so many? He pushed aside all non-volleyball related thoughts and started playing, a grin across his face. He was going to win today.</p><p> </p><p>… He didn’t win today.</p><p>Well, any matches, at least. He did, on the other hand, get to train with Bokuto! Apparently Emma had beat him and Akaashi at arm wrestling (unsurprising at this point), so they had agreed to teach Shouyou some things. Said Emma was currently walking around with Ray or something, Shouyou honestly didn’t care that much. There were more important things at hand! And at that, he hands the point of view over to Ray. </p><p> </p><p>Ray was walking through the convenience store with Emma, trying to pick a snack. “<span class="u"> Hey Emma! </span>” Ray called out, Emma turning around. He was speaking in dmon tongue, something they tended to do around each other when it was just them. They had both learned demon tongue, as they called it, through two years of exposure and Ayshe helping them tune a bit. Though they weren’t completely fluid, they had a better grasp on the language than any of the other cattle children and certainly the people shopping at ten in a nearly empty 7 11. </p><p>“<span class="u"> Yeah Ray? </span>” Emma was holding a bad that said “chocolate dirt” in bubbly letters. </p><p>“<span class="u"> Just wondering what you were thinking of getting, does that say chocolate dirt? </span>” Ray walked over to where the girl was standing. He noticed other flavors of “dirt” on the shelf near her, including strawberry, orange, and vanilla. </p><p>“<span class="u"> Yeah, I saw an add for it the other day. It actually looks pretty good, what about you? </span> ” Emma put the chocolate bag back in favor of the vanilla one, turning to look at the taller boy.<span class="u"> “</span> <span class="u"> I’m also getting some stuff for Shouyou, Bokuto, and Tetsuro .” </span></p><p>“<span class="u"> Just some plain chips, not really in a super sweet mood today. I do want to try a little bit of dirt, though. </span>” He smirked, taking Emma’s bag to go to the counter. The woman behind it took her cigarette out of her mouth, looking a little confused and struggling to spit out some garbled english. </p><p>“‘Ow… Eye… Elp … Ew?( How I help you)” The poor girl was trying to be nice, not knowing that Ray and Emma could barely make out what she was saying through her thick accent.</p><p>“Oh, no, we speak Japanese.” As Ray said that, the girl let out a breath.</p><p>“Okay, sorry then. Heard you talking in that,” she vaguely gestured with her hand, “and assumed you were foreign.”</p><p>Emma laughed, waving her hand. “Oh, it’s fine! I get that all the time.” </p><p>The woman smiled, relieved. “So what language was that? Don’t think I’ve heard it before.”</p><p>Ray took the question with ease, simply stating “It’s a code language we came up with.” They left soon after, thanking the girl as they exited. The two walked in comfortable silence, occasionally pointing at random things and calling them the wrong name in demon tongue to mess with the other. </p><p>Emma pointed at a squirrel. “<span class="u"> Cat </span> <span class="u">.</span>”</p><p>Ray at a bench, “<span class="u"> River </span> <span class="u">.</span>” </p><p>Emma looked at Ray, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “<span class="u"> Dumbass </span> <span class="u">.”</span> </p><p>Ray stared Emma dead in the eyes, before stabbing her chest with his finger and saying, “<span class="u"> Bastard </span>.” </p><p>They continued all the way until they got back, the two bursting through the gym doors with glad tidings of chips and some soda. Unfortunately for the two, they were fully conversing in demon tongue as they entered, and the boys had decided to take a short break not a minute earlier, so they all caught an earful of what sounded like a fork going through a garbage disposal. </p><p>“<span class="u"> ... And so I said- </span>”</p><p>“Pardon my french, but <em>what the fuck?</em>” Tetsuro was sitting next to the door, water bottle in hand waving violently at the two. “Emma, I thought I told you to not put a demon in Ray!” </p><p>Emma snorted at the… <em>unfortunate</em> choice of words, answering in demon tongue. “<span class="u">Oh, sweet summer child, thy words shall haunt thine grave! The world shall know no pain in comparison to thine, oh thy house of all that is unholy. Go take a demon and put it up your own Ray, if anything I put it out of him! He knows, Ray was going to shove his head up so many demons if not for me!” </span></p><p>Bokuto enthusiastically flapped his arms, mimicking some of the words he’d heard Emma say, while Ray chuckled at the response Emma had provided. “<span class="u">Kay, Emma, are we just dropping these and leaving or hanging out here</span>?” Tetsuro would not be entertained with a Japanese response, now resigned to simply try and decode whatever they were talking about.</p><p>“<span class="u"> Yeah, I think I’ll just drop the snacks here and go. I promised Nat that I’d facetime him tonight, so I gotta go do that. </span> ” Shouyou joined in on the playful mockery, successfully making the words “<span class="u">Unholy”, “Ray”</span>, and “<span class="u">Hanging</span>”. Bokuto had managed to successfully make no clear full words, even those with an accent. “So, guys, how’s practice been going?” Emma swapped over to Japanese with no hesitance and no accent.</p><p>“It’s going really good! Bokuto-san is teaching me all these new tricks, they’re so cool! Did you know that-” and at that Shouyou was gone off on a volleyball rant. Emma had learned through practice that the best thing to do during these was to simply nod, smile, and wait. She did just that, and when the short boy came up for air a minute or so later, she promptly jumped in. </p><p>“That’s great! We got you guys some snacks. I’m gonna go to bed now, you need to have some energy for the rest of the week too you know!” Emma ruffled Shouyou’s hair before leaving with a wave to everyone. </p><p>Ray stayed behind, slumping next to his foster brother. “Didn’t know you spoke another language.” Ray didn’t indulge him with a full answer, just a small grunt. He really wanted to hang out with Emma more, but he’d be fine. He’d still have the rest of camp, so that’d be plenty of time to cause some trouble. Closing his eyes, Ray drifted off to the sound of volleyballs hitting the floor, a grin catching his lips as he thought about all the chaos that would surely happen now that the two orphans were back together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Anyone wanna guess where Phil is? ;) </p><p>Asking this again, but if it isn't any trouble please put your favorite quote/tell me what your favorite scene is in the comments! Doesn't have to be from this chapter!</p><p>If you are subbed/bookmarked to the series, please do! This series is going to be updating roughly weekly, so you might miss out on other works there. </p><p>Don't forget to drink some water and have a great day/night!</p><p>(Edit 1/21/2020 12 ish hours after posting: added chapter titles)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. 1: Earbuds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kiyoko lends Emma some earbuds.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey Emma.” Shimizu- No, Kiyoko walked over to where Emma was sitting on a bench. Emma easily had thirty brothers, but she didn’t know that the energy a bunch of normal teenage boys brought with them greatly outweighed that of some five year olds. The girl barely managed to focus on any one thing with so much happening around her. Kiyoko sat down next to her, handing her a piece of wire with some bigger things on the end. “I thought you looked a bit overwhelmed, and listening to some music usually helps me when I’m stressed, so I thought that I’d lend you my earbuds if you want to take a little music break.”</p><p>Emma inspected the wiring. She wasn’t the smartest when it came to technology, she left that to Nigel, Ray, and Gilda, but she figured she could work out how to use these. “Thanks Sh- Kiyoko!” Emma gave her a trademarked smile before looking down at the supposed “earbuds”, mind working faster and faster trying to figure out what to do. She said that these were for listening to music, and there’s two of the “earbuds”, so maybe I… Put the “bud” parts in my ear(s), and plug the end bit into my phone? Yeah, that makes sense! Too bad Ray isn’t over here to help…</p><p>The orange haired girl opened her phone, throwing on a random playlist Gilda had sent her earlier this week using the app “Spotify”. She inserted the end part into a perfectly shaped hole in her phone, and snugly placed one of the little round things into her ear. She pressed start, turning the volume up nice and high to drown out the craziness of the volleyball court. The song had some great bass, and the guy singing had a really nice deep voice. Emma had listened to this song before a few times, so she sort of mumbled along with the lyrics. She didn’t understand all the references, like what a “Death Note” is, but it was a fun song anyways. It wasn’t in what the people there called Japanese, instead it was in another language called “English”. Emma knew English already because she, as well as all the other Grace Field kids, had learned it from their mom and books in the library. Though she wasn’t fully fluent, especially not with the new slang, she still had a firm grasp of it, albeit with an accent.</p><p>The chorus came on again, and this time Emma mumbled out loud some of it. “Choke me, like you hate me, but you love me. Lowkey, wanna date you when you fuck me.”</p><p>Unfortunately, Emma hadn’t fully plugged in her headphones. Kiyoko was staring at her, and Ray was smirking while the half russian boy Lev looked paler than normal. Ray decided to end their fun as the song ended and he tapped on Emma’s shoulder. He leaned down to her one ear, and whispered “Your earbuds aren’t plugged in all the way.” He leaned back up, chuckling a little as he saw Nishinoya run over, summoned by the sound of CorpseHusband.</p><p>“Hinata-chan!!! My man!!! I didn’t know you liked Corpse!!!” Nishinoya, as always, was too enthusiastic after working out for so long.</p><p>“Yeah, my sister recommended him to me! I really like his deep voice, though I don’t really understand all the words? English is my second language, after all. Hey! Maybe you could help me! Do you know why he keeps talking about a cat? It seems kinda out of place compared to the rest of the song. And why is the cat bald?”</p><p>Nishinoya stared at her, almost in awe. “Wow. No way in hell am I explaining to you what pussy is, you can ask your brother or Kuroo junior or something,” Ray’s face blanched at that, “but I will tell you this: your sister has great taste! Oo, what other songs do you like?”</p><p>And so the two continued on, talking about their favorite explicit english songs as everyone in earshot of Emma’s phone who spoke half decent english wondered how the fuck she had been introduced to that kind of music.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Surprise! For the next 5 days, I'll be posting some short, wacky, totally 100% fluffy one-shots every day! They'll be covering the highlights of training camp excluding the last day of camp. </p><p>...I kinda made myself cry with the Ray fic I posted last week... so FluffTM!</p><p>Thanks for reading! </p><p>(Unrelated to this chapter or what's upcoming, but does anyone have any ideas for Ayshe? I really want to include her soon but haven't thought of how yet)</p><p>Update: will be doing it every other day. So 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th. Posted late at night.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. 2: Please keep your volume down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Emma gets frustrated that Ray can't figure out what she's saying.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>aals;djknksdl SORRY THIS IS LATE,,,,,</p><p> </p><p>anyways enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the second to last day of camp when this went down. Emma and Ray were attached at the hip every chance they got or could make, but sometimes they still ended up on opposite ends of the gym because of the team rotations. Though they were both half-pissed about this, they also both understood that they did still have duties as managers that they had to fulfil, so they made due. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now was one of those times. Karasuno was up against Fukurodani, and Nekomas was against Nohebi. The two younger managers were staring at each other the whole time, mouthing things across the long room, sometimes with hand gestures thrown in as well. No one could really make out what they were saying, though, as it was very convoluted and hard to follow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Emma rolled her eyes, seemingly pissed at something. “</span>
  <span class="u">
    <span>I said! Phil is going to spend a few nights with me when he’s out of the dorms!</span>
  </span>
  <span>” The game Karasuno was playing suddenly stopped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... Who broke Hinata-chan?” Nishinoya asked, staring at the girl who just impersonated a radiator getting stabbed. He, himself, had made a wide variety of weird and strange noises and sounds over the years, but had never quite managed this level of… scratchiness. She sounded like a record playing while being scratched, but not stopping nonetheless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Oops! Sorry- wait, fuck, no</span>
  </span>
  <span>,” No one seemed to get why Ray had burst into laughter, but they did know that Emma was still not speaking any human tongue. “Sorry everyone! Forgot, hehe.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="u">
    <span>“</span>
  </span>
  <span><span class="u">Emma! Watch the fuckin’ language! Speak human, geeze</span>!</span>
  <span>” Ray was not any help in proving that Emma was not, in fact, broken. Even Kenma was looking at him weirdly now, a rarity as the faux blond usually went along with all of the younger’s bullshit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ray? The </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Kenma had his eyebrows pursed, a mix of concern and exhaustion overtaking his expression. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No no no, Kenma, it’s actually pronounced “</span>
  <span class="u">
    <span>The </span>
    <em>
      <span>Fuck</span>
    </em>
  </span>
  <span>”</span>
  <span>,” Ray, an agent of chaos, just wouldn’t end the fucking joke already. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ray stop it, that’s mean!” Emma finally ended the author’s misery as she put an end to the shenanigan and simply sat down on Karasuno’s bench again, this time paying full attention to the game that was resuming. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Later, Nishinoya would ask her to speak in demon tongue more so he could record it for his heavy metal underground band no one else knew about.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me, sitting down and half writing all of these in one night: This is totally manageable!<br/>Me, sitting in bed at 10:27 after struggling to write 100 words: Listen here fucker,</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. 3: Yup yup yup fluffy fluff fluff fluff</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>HAHAHA TOTALLY FLUFF</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes,,,,, this is fluff, right?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sometimes, Emma gets overwhelmed. This doesn’t happen very often, considering she grew up around thirty other people and was used to loud noises and lack of personal space, but it occasionally just got to where she couldn’t take it anymore. So as she sat in the manager’s room, futons spread all around the floor, she tried to talk herself down from being so stressed. This was only a volleyball camp, she wasn’t in danger, she was safe. Ray was right over in Nekoma’s room, she’s fine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But as she sat on the ground holding herself, it just got to be too much. Dragging herself off the floor and taking a pillow with her, Emma slowly made her way across the hall to the room Ray was in. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If I can get to Ray</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought as she knocked on the door, </span>
  <em>
    <span>he can help me</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tall half-russian boy opened the door, looking a little surprised to see Emma so late at night. So far into the camp, she had a strict bedtime of nine, and it was currently ten. Due to Tanaka’s warnings, everyone quickly knew not to disturb her or her sleep. Quietly, Lev asked her “You need to see Ray?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He let her in, making shushing noises at everyone else behind Emma’s back as she stumbled into Ray’s arms. “Hey carrot.” Ray hugged her, guessing correctly what was happening with her. Sometimes, when she was around too much loudness for long periods of time, Emma donned some form of PTSD and went into panic mode. Luckily for everyone, she had enough common sense to go to Ray before anything bad happened. ‘</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ray, we’re safe, right? No demons this time?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No demons this time. And if there are any, I have my bow right over there.” Ray lied, but he found that it helped Emma. The boy glared at everyone else in the room, conveying the message of </span>
  <em>
    <span>If you say anything so help me Him they won’t find your remains</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is Norman here?” Emma’s voice cracked slightly as she asked this question, memories of the day he left flooding her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Norman isn’t here right now. But he’s safe,” Ray stroked her hair, running his fingers through the longer parts. “And we can call him if we need to. Do you want to call him?” Emma shook her head, sitting up a bit so she could look at Ray.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s okay. Thanks.” She only then seemed to notice the others in the room, all totally casually staring anywhere but at her when she looked over. “Sorry guys, guess that was pretty rude of me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kindly, Emma, shut the fuck up.” No one was surprised to see Kenma was the one to speak up. “It sounded like you’re just having a bad night, we all get it. Right?” He glared around at everyone, as if threatening them into supporting Emma.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah!!” Lev almost shouted too enthusiastically, clearly not properly reading the room. “Oh, my bad, uh,” he stumbled over his words, trying to find the right ones. “Emma we all have bad nights! No need to be ashamed!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, guys. I should probably head back to my room, then.” She stood up, grabbing the pillow she’d taken with her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll come too.” Seeing the suggestive look Tetsurou was throwing at him, Ray stared at the taller boy with enough animosity to make a grown man piss his pants. “I’ll be back in the morning, don’t miss me too much.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two exited Nekoma’s room, stopping outside Emma’s as they heard voices inside. “So,” Emma said, a grin slightly creeping across her face, “how are you going to explain spending the night to the five other girls?” As Ray’s face suddenly became red with embarrassment, a rare thing only Emma really got to see now, the orange haired girl laughed as she opened the door and they walked in. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>THIS IS FLUFF,,,,, I SWEAR,,,,, I SAT DOWN TO WRITE FLUFF AND I WROTE FLUFF GODDAMN IT, BUT JUST NOT HERE</p><p> </p><p>... at least i posted this early?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. 4: No, Bokuto. Just no.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last night of training camp, and Bokuto asks what everyone has been thinking.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>These aren't in chronological order, sorry</p><p>There's still going to be one on the 11th that takes place before this, and then I have another new thing in store that I hope y'all enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“So! Emma-chan!” Bokuto was always very loud and excited, but now even more so than before. It was their last night at camp, and Emma was sitting at the side of the gym with Ray, watching Shouyou, Tsukkishima, Akaashi, Tetsurou, and Bokuto practice blocks and rebounds and such. The boys were currently taking a water break. “What gang are you in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone who had liquid in their mouth quickly lost hold of it as the whole gym erupted into laughter. Ray rubbed at his lips with the back of his mouth, quickly pulling himself together to respond. “She’s not in a gang,” he started, “she’s an ex member of a cult.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shouyou looked just about ready to faint, Akaashi’s eyes were wide as he looked back and forth between Emma and Ray, Tsukkishima was shocked silent, Tetsurou probably actually pissed his pants this time, and Bokuto’s eyes were as big as dinner plates as his jaw dropped to the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously?!?? That’s so cool!!!” Bokuto was now walking over to Emma, clearly not understanding that it was a half joke and she wasn’t comfortable. “I’ve always wanted to be in a cult! Like, the kind with blood and guts and rituals and shit!” As Bokuto made wide gestures and the like, everyone kind of just looked at him as he continued. “I was raised Christian, but it was kinda boring. You know, like, I got some wine, but it always tasted funny and when I woke up I was never in my mom’s car, so that was kinda weird.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Softly, but with emotion, Akaashi whispered “What the fuck.” He’d known Bokuto since the beginning of middle school, and this was the first he’d heard of this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know right!?!?” Bokuto continued on his merry way of accidentally dumping his childhood trauma onto a bunch of random people. “So like, I woke up in the car one time, and it was driving. The priest dude guy was in the front, and my mom was in the side seat, and then I saw his hand-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, I think that’s enough.” Tetsurou, as cool as he may be, was actually freaked out pretty easily. Hearing this? He had no clue how it would end, and he had no intention of finding out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay.” He slumped, going into a slight emo mode as he walked back over to Akaashi. “But anyways,” he continued despite the various emotions being held around the room, “did you guys know that the coaches actually bought us a bunch of meat for tomorrow?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No way!” Shouyou was quick to enthusiastically go with the change in conversation. “How did you find out?!?! It sounds like it would be a surprise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t supposed to know! They were putting it in the fridge in the staff room when I went in to grab one of those tube popsicle thingies. They told me not to tell anyone, but it’s for tomorrow! I want y’all to know too!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Never ask Bokuto-san to keep a secret, he can’t for the life of him.” Akaashi was back to his normal deadpan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not true, ‘Kaashi! Remember that one time you-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like I said,” Akaashi said with his hand over the ace’s mouth, “don’t tell him anything you don’t want to be public knowledge.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so they continued on, playing their little game like nothing had happened. But a few months later when Akaashi’s birthday rolled around, there was a surprise birthday party waiting for him. Bokuto had put it together himself, insisting he did the most work. That was the best birthday Akaashi ever had. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me??? Ending a crack-filled short one-shot with a wholesome ending?? It's more likely than you'd think.</p><p>Fun fact, as I was writing this the "in another life" song came on and I almost cried</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The coaches decide to get their teams a treat, but Ray and Emma are just confused.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Last of these tiny one-shots!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After a hard day of practice, the coaches all decided to pitch in a little money to buy some watermelons for the teams to share. There was one per team, with the managers also getting one to share. All the boys were excited to eat, considering how hard they had all been working out. Emma and Ray were so caught up in talking to each other, however, that they were only half paying attention when the watermelon announcement went out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And so then- oh, looks like everyone is moving outside! Let’s go!” Emma enthusiastically led the way to the door, chatting all the while about the piece Nat performed for her last night while Ray occasionally interjected with his comments. As they reached the tables where the watermelons were set up, Emma donned a look of confusion at the large oblong fruit. “What… are those?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray carefully inspected one that was not currently being cut up, rolling it around gently on the picnic table. “I don’t know. Probably some sort of fruit, maybe an anemone?” The two were so absorbed in staring at the mysterious object that they didn’t notice the fact that people were now eating their slices of the other fruit. “Because of its shape and hardness, maybe it’s a gourd?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma pondered this as she, too, gently inspected it. “But its patterning is totally different from any gourds I’ve seen or heard of. Perhaps it’s specific to this region? Locally sourced?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe, maybe. Oh wait, what is everyone eating?” They tuned out their previous confusion to focus on this new spectacle. “Hold on, check out the patterning on the bottom of the slices! I knew it!” Ray did not call anything, but that didn’t stop him from taking the credit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So it’s like a really, really wet gourd? Perhaps a form of tropical fruit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dude, it’s just watermelon.” Kenma appeared, for once holding a piece of the strange food instead of his gaming thing. “Have you never had some before or?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“HAHA Nope! I’ve had watermelon before! Have it all the time!” A single bead of sweat rolled down Emma’s face as she lied. “We were just… it’s an inside joke!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kenma looked at her, clearly seeing through her lie, and just responded with a simple “Sure.” He handed her an extra slice he was carrying, and walked away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma proceeded to do what she had seen the others doing, and shoved the whole thing down her throat in one bite. It had a really nice flavor, all sweet and liquidy, but the one weird thing was that there was a harder part that tasted more bitter, and was really hard to chew. She eventually swallowed the whole thing, throat aching from all she shoved down it. “Wow,” she said, looking at a terrified Ray, “they need to come up with a better way than that to eat it!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... I don’t think you’re supposed to eat it like that.” Ray, ever the flowing fountain of knowledge and wisdom, pointed out the obvious. “But whatever, fuck it, hand me a slice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so the two continued eating their slices of watermelon like that, thoroughly confusing everyone who saw them.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>For some reason, last night I had a dream that I was just... very excited to include tendou/shouyou in this. Idk why. But on that note, does anyone mind if I add in some background relationships? They won't really be the focus of the story. Also, I won't include any tpn/tpn ships, but if anyone has any ideas for tpn/haikyuu, I'm open to suggestions!</p><p>Next time, Phil! Any theories as to where he's at?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. I lied 6: Intermission</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>S I K E no phil only a short Ukai monologue</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Listen here Fuckers, I got fanart and it's so goddamn amazing and beautiful and yes I did cry. Thank you so much to Belle for not only reading this so many times, but also for drawing!!!!</p>
<p>https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/dschubb4/642874743114137600</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>(The scene: Ukai and Takeda are sharing a smoke after practice. They end up talking about the new manager.)</p>
<p>Listen here, all right, because I’m only gonna say this once. I love the new girl, Emma, she’s great and all. But something’s just a tad bit off about her, yeah? Like, she’ll show up one day with her ‘can do’ attitude, and the next she’s smiling just as big but not nearly as bright, ya know? Shit, man, maybe it has something to do with her missing ear and shit. I’ve seen her stomach too- not like that, creep, she was doing a handstand with the Noya kid and it fell a bit. Anyways, she has these huge fuckin’ scars across her, really close to the heart area. And they look like stab wounds. Ya know when you stab a piece of chicken real good before you start slicing it? No, just me? Well anyways, it looked like that, if you can picture it. I don’t think it was recent or anything, and I know she said she was in a bad place before, but shit. I don’t think she’s told us everything. Not that I think I necessarily want her to, though. It’s like… she has her right to privacy, but fuck, I think stab wounds require, like, therapy or something. Right? Right. Oh, and another thing, there’s been a few times when she came in, like, super tired. That isn’t that weird, but the weird thing is that I’ve heard her call me “dad”, “Yuugo”, and even “Andrew” once. Shit, thinking about her face when she called me Yuugo makes me sad. Her nose got all scrunched up like this- hey, stop laughing! Trying to be serious here, God, but like her eyes were all red around the edges and she looked like she hadn’t slept in a while. Yuugo was probably her dad’s name or something, I don’t know. She said she grew up in an orphanage, though, so it doesn’t quite add up. Maybe he was her old foster dad or whatever? Whatever. Emma hasn’t said anything about it, so I’m not going to say anything either. Maybe I’ll ask if she calls me dad again, maybe. The last time she called me dad, it was like ten and we were packing up. She’d been there since seven, and even though she wasn’t playing I know just being around all those enthusiastic shitballs can make you exhausted. She was just saying goodbye, but instead of coach she called me dad. I think it was a mistake, we aren’t really close or anything. I didn’t bring it up with her because I don’t want to make it awkward and I know she was absolutely out of it. Oh, when she called me Yuugo? Well, it’s usually when the boys are fucking around and I yell at them to not die, but also don’t stop ‘em. It’s not like I really could, anyways, so what’s the point? So yeah, that’s usually when she calls me Yuugo, that or when she’s super tired. The one time she called me Andrew was when I was trying to take a battery out of Noya’s mouth. Oh don’t look at me like that, he barely got a lick in before I got it out. So yeah, that’s all I have on Emma. Have you looked over that thing of paperwork I sent you earlier?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Me: I'm gonna wait till next week to post this! <br/>Me, getting fanart: w e l l n e v e r m i n d t h e n</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. The Child Gets Glasses and a Personal Body Guard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Phil!!!!!!!!! </p><p>and some other stuff ig</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Finally Phil!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The parting of Emma and Ray was a long and tearful one, though Ray would never let you live if you let it out that he had silently sobbed. The two stood in the parking lot for a solid five minutes, neither wanting to end the embrace. Their teammates milled around them, mindlessly giving hugs to friends and exchanging numbers. Shouyou watched the two hug, and wondered why they were making such a big deal about it. He had simply given one of his best long-distance friends, Kenma, a light hug and a game recommendation! Was any more than that truly necessary? Were they declaring some kind of manager war on each other? He may never know (unless he bugged Emma about it enough on the bus). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ray,” Emma choked out, “we have to go! The bus might leave without me!” She didn’t want to go, but knew it had to happen. That was the price she paid for this peaceful world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dumbass, if they leave without you, then I just get to hang out with my sister for longer!” Ray chuckled, still not letting go, but ever so slightly loosened his grip on the girl. He didn’t think he would be able to go so long without seeing her for so long again, not after what had happened before she got here. He would simply have to come and visit her in Miyagi sometime later, but still soon enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Seriously, Ray, my teammates have been yelling at us for a solid thirty seconds.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Emma had stated, Tanaka and Nishinoya were currently yelling at her to “hurry up and ditch the dude”. They truly had no self preservation skills. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I’ll just have to come see the dump you stay at next time, huh?” Finally letting her go, Ray arched his back straight again and patted her head. “</span>
  <span class="u">
    <span>Make sure to kick some ass for me, and tell Phil I said hi.</span>
  </span>
  <span>” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <span class="u">
    <span>I will! Don’t forget to drink water, I know you didn’t drink enough yesterday</span>
  </span>
  <span>!” </span>
  <em>
    <span>How the fuck did she know that?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ray thought as he waved goodbye and Emma ran to her bus. </span>
  <em>
    <span>At least she’s safe now</span>
  </em>
  <span>. As the bus drove away, Ray let out a sigh and slouched again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>At least</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A few uneventful days passed for Emma, filled with early runs through farms with Shouyou and late night convenience store runs with Kiyoko when practice went on for just a little too long. Emma found herself genuinely smiling more, happy to finally be safe and settled. She quickly found herself settled into two positions: running to refill water bottles, and running to gather balls. Emma didn’t mind the work, it was easy enough due to her incredible stamina, and it was fun to hang out with other high energy people. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One day, however, Emma showed up just as early as usual with Shouyou, but this time she headed straight for the captain and coach. Normally, she would greet Kiyoko and then joke around with Tanaka and Tsukkishima for a bit before warming up with the team. Even though she wasn’t playing, she thought that it was necessary to become closer to the team, and it was fun! When she warmed up before, it was just a few simple and quick stretches before having to take off, if she was lucky. It was nice to now have a routine to follow, one that didn’t leave her sore and cramping all over when the day was done. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Captain, Coach, do you have a minute?” Emma was in her normal high spirits, but maybe they were just slightly even higher today.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, what’s up Emma?” Ukai looked up from his phone, closing it to look at the girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it okay if my friend stops by here? He’s staying with me and Shouyou this week, and it’s faster and easier for him to just stop here then go with the two of us after practice.” She articulated herself very well, having everything prepared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t see why not. Does he like volleyball though? He may get a bit bored, otherwise.” Ukai said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, he doesn’t play or anything, but he told me that he’s been to a couple of games at his school! His roommate plays for the team, so he watches some of them.” Emma then got a bit more energetic, onomatopoeias ready to roll off her tongue. “He’s all super huuuuuuuuge, like maybe the same size as Tsukki! And I’ve seen his spike before, it’s super strong!!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like fun. Is his roommate the one dropping him off?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! My friend doesn’t really have a car, but his roommate does.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay then. If he’s anything like your other friend,” Ukai thought back to when Ray had added salt to all the water bottles </span>
  <em>
    <span>of his own team</span>
  </em>
  <span>, “then I’m sure we’ll be having some fun.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so practice went as normal. Tsukkishima was now doing better at blocking, and Shouyou was hitting more and more of Kageyama’s new passes with his eyes open. The second and third year’s synchronized attack was also making large strides, and was now ready to be used in a game.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But then Phil came in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since he was barely over four feet, his entrance wasn’t what made everyone stop in their tracks. No, it was rather the humongous over six foot man standing behind him that made the whole team pause.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ushijima? From Shiratoraizawa?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, that is me. Who here is ‘Emma’?” The aforementioned Ushijima spoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Phil!!” Emma ran over to hug her brother. It didn’t matter to her that he was almost nine, he was still super tiny. She picked him up and made his legs dangle in the air, making the little boy giggle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Emma, Emma! Put me down!” He had on new glasses, and was wearing a school uniform that was probably tailored for him. Emma thought that he just looked absolutely adorable in his tiny little tie, but didn’t say anything because she knew Phil would get embarrassed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Ushijima guy cleared his throat. “Well, I assume that you are Emma. If that is all, then I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“WAIT A MINUTE!” Shouyou yelled. Everyone turned to look at him, his face glowing with rage. “I want to play against you!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was both a surprise and not shocking at all. Of course Shouyou would run his mouth at the biggest and best ace in their prefecture and country, why not? “Oh,” the ace responded, “you’re that… child from the other day. That’s right, you did say you were from Karasuno.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah I do! And I’m a starter, number ten!” Seeing Shouyou ready to fight the older boy was like looking at a chiwawa trying to fight a standard poodle. Emma got ready to step in, knowing that her foster brother was one to act first and think later. She calmly walked between the two, holding her arms out so they were distanced. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she addressed Ushijima first. “My foster brother tends to overreact a bit.” She wasn’t normally one to step into Shouyou’s volleyball spirit fights or whatever, but right now she just wanted to hang out with her little brother! Sue her! “I’m Hinata Emma, older sister of Phil. It’s nice to meet you.” She gave a polite bow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it is quite fine. I am Ushijima Wakatoshi, it is nice to meet you too.” He stepped back a bit, bending down to talk to Phil, but not in a condescending way. Emma recognized it as showing respect, not the opposite like what usually happens. “Phil. I will have to go now, I have a practice game coming up. Have fun with your sister.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Phil gave him a big hug (or at least as big as he could manage) and waved goodbye as he stepped out of the gym. Or, at least, he tried to step out. While Emma had been momentarily distracted, Shouyou had run over to block the door. “Fight me!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma facepalmed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m starting to believe Ray and Norman that there was a price</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The price was my motherfucking sanity</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, no, not like a physical fight!” The short boy was now waving his arms around, trying to convey some message. “I want to play against you! Right now!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I do have a bit of time to spare.” Ushijima checked his expensive looking watch, doing that little wrist flick thing with his blazer sleeve that only rich men know how to do so that he could perfectly see the face of the clock. “Phil, would you mind holding this?” He removed his jacket and handed it to a nodding Phil, and though Emma was not one to gawk, she couldn’t help but admire his perfectly toned muscles. He clearly worked out, and might even be able to stop Emma in a round of arm wrestling! Might being the key word there, obviously. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey hey hey!” She had picked up Bokuto’s attention grabber in the meer week that they had spent together, “how do you train those shoulder muscles of yours!?!” Emma wasn’t a fitness freak, not like Cislo or some other people, but she still was curious about his workout regime. Just because she knew she wouldn’t be able to have that kind of body type doesn’t mean that she isn’t allowed to be a bit jealous! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have the written copy of my regime on me currently, but I do have it memorized if that works.” Emma can’t put into words her love for blunt and straightforward people like Ushijima. Himbo, Shouyou had told her. Strong, stupid, and women respecting. Emma was pretty sure that she met all of those categories, but now wasn’t the time. Now was big buff muscle time. “First, run at least ten kilometers but no more than fifteen. Make sure to stretch well before and after. Next,”...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he continued on, Emma summoned a notepad to take notes. Shouyou would probably still be insisting on fighting him if he, too, wasn’t so entranced by the older boy’s amazing workout schedule. He had near twigs for legs, even though he biked up and down a mountain every day t w i c e! This was injustice! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as Ushijima was wrapping up how to properly get all necessary nutrients out of an egg by flipping it at a certain moment, Coach Ukai cleared his weak throat while looking at the four. Phil was still just holding Ushijima’s jacket and standing close to his older sister. “So uhh, Ushijima Wakatoshi of Shiratorizawa, huh?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes that is me.” He gave a polite bow, keeping his head down for a little extra time. “I am sorry for intruding on your practice.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, it’s fine. If you don’t mind, I think it would be fun to do a little three-on-three, maybe?” Ukai proposed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. I have an hour before I’m expected back at my school for practice. Do you have a spare t-shirt I could perhaps borrow?” Shouyou enthusiastically ripped his off, handing it to the taller boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Use mine! Let’s fight!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so it began. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>alsdjfa Kinda late but whatever</p><p>I'm going to post my last thing of poetry tomorrow, and then I'm may take a little break. I have shit going on, and I keep putting this off till last minute, so updates are probably going to slow down so that they'll be higher quality.</p><p>ANYWAYS ONTO THE IMPORTANT SHIT,</p><p>P H I L </p><p>Thoughts on him?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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